
Photographed by Tipton. 



Gettysburg, Pa 



14TH C V. MONUMENT, GETTYSBURG, PA. 

CENTRE OF LONGSTREET'S ASSAULT, JULY 3d, 1863. 



m 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THE 



Dedication 



|)|onunjeiji o\ tlje 14th w^oijij. Pols, 



Gettysburg, Penn., July 3d, 1884, 



COMRADE H. S. STEVENS; 



A Description of the Monument, &c. 



ALSO, AN ACCOUNT OF THE 



nip of i^e 14ih h^. |^. to Aettysburg, Jnlij 1=3, '84, 
By comrade j;w. knowlton, 

J^ec. Sec. of Regtl. Reunion. 



middletown, conn.: 

Pelton & King, Steam Printers and Bookbinders. 

1884. 



.5 ■ 






^ 



ADDRKSS. 



My Comrades: 

This is an hour of rarest satisfaction to you. You are where 
for months you have been longing to be, whither for years your 
thoughts have been tending — back on the spot where once you con- 
fronted the Rebellion's mightiest wave, and gazing over the fields 
where you passed to and fro in deadly peril, achieving for your regi- 
ment imperishable honor; and where you saw the tide of battle fluc- 
tuating during the most eventful engagements known in our country's 
history. 

We are not now to dwell upon the history of the battle of Gettys- 
burg or to estimate its effect upon either the effort of rebellion or 
our country's subsequent interests. He is foolish who shall attempt 
to do these in one address, and at this late day. Volumes have been 
written upon the battle and people have all at hand for examination; 
and the estimate universally put upon its effect leaves unnecessary 
any moralizing of ours now. 

Our purpose is to recall your part in the great struggle here; your 
experience during the eventful campaign; something of the history 
of our grand old regiment whose record we are proud and jealous 
of; and to dedicate upon the spot where your valor and patriotism 
helped the country you had sworn to defend, even to the surrender 
of your lives, a pillar of remembrance that shall speak of you to 
your children and your countrymen when you have long been turned 
to dust. That our regiment is royally worthy of such honoring as 
we give it in our Memorial and our words to-day we heartily believe. 

Facts and figures speak with a force incontrovertible. Here is one 
fact. The 14th Conn, lost, in proportion to its numbers and the 
length of its service, more men and endured more of the hardships 
of war than any other one of the several very noble and hard-fought 



* Delivered at the anniversary of the hour of Longstreet's charge. 



4 A BIT OF RECORD. 

regiments that went forth from our State to aid in suppressing the 
Rebellion. Here are some figures. We have taken, for compari- 
son, statistics from authentic Reports concerning four of the Connec- 
ticut regiments in which losses were the greatest. In one of these 
the losses from killed in battle were 5! per cent of its whole number; 
in another 6| per ct. ; in another 84 perct., and in our regiment 
ii-?^perct. The losses in killed and died in the service of these 
same regiments were, for the first mentioned 12^ perct.; for the 
second i4j\ per ct. ; for the third 15 per ct. ; and for our own 2i|^ 
per ct. You perceive that the one approaching us nearest in losses 
shows for killed 84 per ct. against ii|^ in our regiment, and for full 
death losses 15 per ct. against 214. per ct. in ours. 

Once our men thought the fate of the hardly used, ever serving 
and suffering 14th a cause for lamenting, but since the war they have 
regarded it as the ground of their title to the peculiar honor the 
soldier craves. 

But these figures, taken as we have taken them, do not show for 
us, or for any other regiment, the true proportion of losses among 
the faithful, fighting portion of the regiment. In every regiment 
there were skulkers and deserters. These men did not share hard- 
ships and dangers with their comrades; were not where casualties 
occurred; and their number ought to be deducted when making an 
estimate. Our regiment counts a list of 469 deserters, only 92 of 
whom, about 9 per cent, were from our original number of 1,015 
men. Our record shows that our regiment received 697 recruits. 

Our ranks were so depleted during the first year of service that the 
first fruits of the Draft in Connecticut were sent to us. The greater 
number were "bounty-jumpers" from New York, who rushed up to 
New Haven and sold themselves as substitutes, with the deliberate 
purpose of deserting at the first opportunity. And they prepared 
opportunities, so that of the first lot started for our camp a very large 
proportion never got beyond New York on their way to the front. 
Of the 697 recruits charged to our regiment, 377,* or 54 per cent, 
deserted, making over 80 per cent of the whole number of deserters. 



^ Comparatively few of the drafted men personally entered the service. 
From the above figures a suggestive question is started as to how much 
the country received of aid in suppressing the rebellion from other 
drafted men through their high-priced substitutes. It took a large force 
of good men from duty in the field to escort these to the front, and then 
but few of them could be kept there. Verily, the volunteer enlisted men 
and the good troops of the regular army saved the nation ! 



A BIT OF HlSTORY-:-ENTERING THE FIELD. 5 

Deducting, then, the number who fled when they ought to have 
stopped with you to share your perils and hardships, and proportion- 
ing the losses among those who faithfully continued and bore their 
part, our death rate reaches nearly 30 per cent. These figures are 
eloquent. Let the men of the 14th lay them up. 

We cannot estimate our casualties of wounding. The regiment 
was in several great battles. In each one many fell wounded, some 
of them disabled for life. ]\Iany received wounds in each of several 
engagements; and in numerous instances individuals received two or 
more wounds in the same engagement. So that we put it as we have 
it on our tablet: " Wounded and disabled many hundreds." 

Now, Comrades, shall we indulge in a bit of our history — your 
history.? You well remember that bright August day when you broke 
camp at Hartford, and with no slight emotion felt that your true 
soldier life, with its unforeseen, eventful experiences, was about to 
open. You recall that march to the boat through the thronging 
crowds, among whom were many of your dearest friends, some of 
them in tears, cheering you on; and the pleasant sail down our noble 
river, where at every landing enthusiastic throngs greeted you with 
huzzas and artillery salutes, and shouted to you their blessings and 
God-speeds ! What a large regiment you were, and how buoyant 
and joyous your spirits ! Alas, for the change you should know ! 
Fresh in your memories is the arrival at Washington; that hurrying 
over the "Long-Bridge" to hold Arlington Heights; the long roll 
call at midnight and the hasty march to Fort Eihan Allen, where you 
held the rifle-pits and went on picket with your faces "toward the 
enemy." It was a time of great excitement, for the second Bull Run 
battles were in progress. The old troops had been hurried to the 
front, and Washington and the whole country were agitated. Just as 
you were getting comfortable, and were hoping to stay a while and 
drill and learn hoiv to be soldiers, on one Sabbath, that 7th of Sep- 
tember,^ after all arrangements had been made for a sacred service 
such as you had been accustomed to at home, with a choir and our 



1 On that day, Sept. 7, 1862, by an Order, the 14th, the 108th N. Y., 
and 130th Penn., all new regiments, were formed into a Brigade, con- 
stituting the 2d Brig, of the 3d Div. 2d Army Corps, and our com- 
mander. Col. Dwight Morris, was assigned to the command of the new 
organization, the command of the regiment falling to Lieut. Col. S. H. 
Perkins. Col. Morris commanded the Brigade in person until winter, 
when serious ill health compelled him to leave the camp. Subsequently, 
when there appeared no hope of his restoration to health, he reluctantly 
retired from the service. 



6 THE FIRST CAMPAIGN — MARYLAND. 

fine band to help, you were ordered to "be ready to march at a 
moment's notice." At 12 m. came the order "Fall in !" and soon 
you were tramping over "Chain-Bridge." As you had been ordered 
to leave your knapsacks in your camp, you supposed you were going 
on a reconnoisance only. Ah, me ! The knapsacks, with all their 
treasures of home mementoes, pictures of loved ones, clothing and 
articles of convenience so sorely to be needed by you, were never 
again to be seen by most of you; and the reconnoissance ended, 
when.? — Two years and nine months thereafter — May 31, 1865 ! 

That night, at 12 o'clock, you bivouacked without tents, under 
the open sky, a little distance beyond Tennallytown.^ Campaigning 
had begun ! Then on through Rockville, Clarksburg, Hyattstown 
and Urbana you went in pursuit of Lee, reaching Frederick on 
Saturday afternoon. New to marching, most of you, during that 
week, suffered from chafing or heat, and many "fell out" from sun- 
stroke or exhaustion. On Sabbath morning, with scant rations and 
sore feet, you started to climb the hills about ]\Iiddletown, and in 
the afternoon were hurried forward as reinforcements to those fighting 
on South ^Mountain. You escaped the battle that day, but you 
bivouacked at midnight on the battle-field at the foot of the mountain, 
and when daylight came it revealed forms lying stark and lifeless 
around you — the first "killed in battle" you had ever seen. How 
suggestive to you of your own possible fate soon were those cold, 
mangled forms prone upon the earth, so still, with their glassy eyes 
fixed upon the sky ! That day you slowly worked your way through 
Turner's Gap, and many of you slipped aside at times to view the 
traces of the engagement of the preceding day, the unburied bodies 
of the slain, and the mortally wounded who in pain or delirium were 
weariog away the hours until blessed death should come to their 
relief. 

We would like to tell you hoiv very hwigry the Field and Staff were, 
because " Uncle Samuel " was not prepared to sell us any rations 
and the Johnies had consumed every good thing by the way. We 
would like to describe the scene when, after a foraging party had 
brought in an immense loaf of bread, our pater-familias, seated on a 
great flat rock, with his famishing brood around him, broke and dis- 
pensed to us the precious morsels. 

Through Boonesborough you went, then to Keedysville, where you 

^ Among the recollections of that Sabbath afternoon march are the 

frequent calls to a certain disappointed individual, "Say, , how 

soon shall we get to church ?" 



THE FIRST FIGHT— ANTIETAM. 7 

passed the night, and the next forenoon had your first sensations of 
being under fire, as a rebel battery, out of our sight, at frequent 
intervals fired three guns, one of which threw its shell over among 
the ten thousand lying in our valley, every time taking a man. The 
next day, the memorable 17th of September, you were early up and 
in line to hear firing away at right and left of you, and to be ordered 
forward to your own christening as real soldiers in bloody contest. 
You forded the Antietam with its cold waters waist deep. You rose 
the hill and entered the wood where the enemy's shell greeted you. 
You were formed in battle line with your brigade and ordered to 
charge over the open ground into the corn-field beyond. How spite- 
fully the sharp-shooters fired from the Rulette' house at our left ! 
But Co. B. took care of those fellows. Then across the corn-field 
you charged, the first and second lines of your brigade being cut up 
by the concealed infantry in front to fall back through your ranks. 
You pressed forward, receiving a withering fire, until ordered to fall 
back to the fence and " load and fire at will." Here you held your 
place, loading and firing ivilh a ivill, until ordered away and to an- 
other position. An old friend, a General commanding New York 
troops on that field, said to me when I met him several years after 
the war : " How glad we were to see you new fellows that day ! You 
were so green you did not know when you were whipped. You did 
not retreat when you ought to, but your keeping the field saved us."" 



^ The house of Mr. William Rulette divided Co. B. as the company 
swept past capturing the sharp-shooters. Mr. Rulette rushed out of 
the house, hatless and excited, shouting " Give it to them! Use any- 
thing you can find on my place, only drive them! drive them!" He gave 
the writer his name, with the above orthography, and stated that the 
rebels had allowed his family to pass to our lines the day before, but 
kept him a prisoner, fearing he might give our forces information. 
When he had said these things, he pushed hurriedly for the rear. And 
well he might, for the " hornets were stirring " in our vicinity. 

-Gen. McClellan, in his Report of the battle, highly complimented 
our Brigade on its conduct and success. This compliment was won 
under circumstances eminently disadvantageous, and is valuable. Three 
new regiments, numbering more than 2,000 men, most of them but little 
drilled and having had no brigade drill, as they had been compelled to 
make a severe march on each of the ten days they had been brigaded, 
had to be formed in battle line under the shelling of the enemy and at 
once make a difficult charge. Our Brigade Commander, Col. Morris, 
had no opportunity to organize his staff, but taking as his Asst. Adj. 
Gen. Adjutant Ellis of the 14th, and obtaining two cavalry orderlies, 
directed the movement. That he should have been able, under the cir- 
cumstances, to form his lines and make such a successful charge, and 
that the men should have behaved so splendidly, is a matter of con- 
gratulation. 



8 BOLIVAR HEIGHTS— LOUDON VALLEY. 

Did the 14th ever know when it was whipped? Our record shows 
that the 14th nroer lost a color, and that it furnished but few to feed 
that horrible monster^ which at Andersonville, Florence, Salisbury 
and Belle Isle, gave such glad and acceptable aid to Jeff. Davis and 
Lee. But the woes of that first bloody battle day ! Two of your 
captains and numbers of your comrades shot dead, and so many 
wounded ! The printed Report shows a total of killed and wounded 
109; and of missing 28 — 137. Your Chaplain holds in his hand a 
list made by himself on the field that day and in our Division hos- 
pital shortly afterward, which contains the names of 119 whom he 
/C'm-zt' to be killed or wounded. If there were 28 missing additional, 
our list of casualties is swelled to 147, and your Chaplain has never 
supposed his list to be a complete one. When you came out of that 
fight, my comrades, you were different men from what you were be- 
fore. You had received a taste of what was to be your customary 
experience for two and three-fourths years. A stay of four days in 
the vicinity of the battle-field, and then a hot and weary march to 
Harper's Ferry, and a fording^ of the Potomac that laid many low with 
fever. 

A stay of a few weeks on Bolivar Heights, ostensibly to recruit 
and resupply, but truly, as it proved, to lose at increasing ratio your 
men by camp sickness,^ and when you started down Loudon Yalley 
at evening, October 30th, you were glad to get away and be on the 
move. Through Snickersville, into Snicker's Gap and back again, 
by Berryville Gap, through Upperville, then Rector Town, where you 
lay in the snow two days, the 7th and 8th of November, and then on 
to near Warrenton, where "Little Mac" bade us farewell. Then, 



' "A recent report from the Committee on Invalid Pensions states that 
sixty thousand of the Union troops died in Confederate prisons or im- 
mediately after being released therefrom, and adds that the total number 
of killed or dying of wounds during the war was but seventy-eight 
thousand; that nearly as many deaths were caused by Confederate 
starvation as by bullets. The number of enlisted men who were killed 
or died of wounds in the service was one to twenty-eight, while the 
number of enlisted men who died while in prison was one in five." 

- Will the band forget their attempt to play "Jordan is a hard road 
to travel," and their verification of the sentiment when their feet touched 
the slippery stones of the river bed, and men and instruments " went 
a-fishing " 1 

' The bad quality of the water used for drinking, with other causes, 
induced a great amount of sickness, many cases being fatal. The shell- 
riddled houses on the plateau were utilized for hospitals, and when the 
regiment marched away, Asst. Surgeon F. A. Dudley was left in charge 
of the many sick who could not go with us. 



BELLE PLAIN — FREDERICKSBURG. 9 

Nov. 15th, passing through Warrenton's principal thoroughfare, our 
band giving the people our favorite "John Brown " as only the 14th 
band knew how to render it, you moved by way of Warrenton Junc- 
tion towards Fredericksburg, strong in the hope that our army would 
soon attack Lee and we be on our way to Richmond. But no; the battle 
was not to come off then, nor was the 14th to rest. Your fate was 
to be detached, with the brigade, to go to Belle Plain to perform the 
soldierly task of unloading barges freighted with food supplies for men 
and beasts of the army. Can you forget that nightmare like Belle 
Plain, with its tedious march, its first night of sleeping in corn fur- 
rows, and its first morn of awaking in pools of water which gave to 
many their death or discharge warrant? 

Back again to Falmouth on the 6th of December, with the road all 
slush or mud and the air cold, to crouch down on the snow at night 
under the low evergreens, which would not permit the smoke from 
the slow-burning green wood to rise above your heads when yoii sat. 
Little sleep or warmth or comfort you had that night, my comrades. 
Yet this was only your "A. B. C. !" Before you could get the ground 
well cleared and your huts begun, came the order, on the night of 
the loth of December, to be " ready to move at 6 a. m. to-morrow;" 
and at 6 o'clock on the morning of the i ith, while the light to show 
you the way was lacking, and the heavy booming of artillery and the 
volleys of musketry were sounding in your ears, you moved toward 
Fredericksburg. ^ On the 12th you crossed the Rappahannock into 
the city, and on the 13th made, with your division, that fearful 
charge across the plain in the rear, to be mown down and torn in 
pieces by missiles from cannon^ manned by gunners who knew every 
foot of the ground, and by riflemen securely posted behind the stone 
wall and in the road at the foot of ^Nlarye's Heights. There were dis- 
abled our Field Officers, Lt. Col. Perkins and Maj. Clarke,^ and there 
were wounded unto death the soldierly and excellent Gibbons, the 



^ During the nth the regiment awaited the completion of the pontoon 
bridges. At eight o'clock on the morning of the 12th we crossed, near 
the Lacy House, and lay that day and night along Caroline St., suffer- 
ing no casualties except the slight wounding of three men by the burst- 
ing of a shell. 

^ When Longstreet, before the attack, desired Capt. Alexander to find 
place for one more gun, his reply was: " Why, General, you cannot rake 
your head with a fine-tooth comb cleaner than I can comb that plateau 
with the artillery already in place." 

' These fine and very popular officers did not resume duty in the regi- 
ment again. 



to FALMOUTH — CHANCELLORSVILLEi. 

brave Stanley, Comes, Canfield and others.' Have the dreadful 
woundings of Fredericksburg been exceeded in any battle you have 
known? The horrible vision is in our eyes now ! We see the plain 
bestrewn with broken, gashed and gory corpses ! — the porches and 
floors of our hospital buildings, all under fire, covered with men 
with faces cut away, eyes blasted, and feet, arms and legs torn off by 
shell, and others with bodies pierced cruelly by the subtle bullet ! 

Back again on the evening of the 15th to the old camp near Fal- 
mouth, to spend a gloomy winter doing picket duty along the Rap- 
pahannock, and losing men constantly from physical demoralization 
consequent upon unusual strain and exposure, and from mental 
depression resulting from these and from disappointment and the 
New-Englander's longing for home." 

Because of being at the right of the army you escaped, by a few 
hours, orders to march during the famous Burnside "stuck in the 
mud" campaign. You have some satisfaction yet in recalling the 
complacency with which you viewed from your camp the stranded 
mules, pontoon trains and wagons and other debris of that campaign 
decorating the muddy surfaces of the hillsides around you. 

You were hardening, my comrades; and when the pleasant spring- 
time came and the order was to march to Chancellorsville, you w-ent 
as to a pic-nic in that charming weather. But Chancellorsville had 
nothing for you except hardship and struggle, and a return with bitter 
disappointment after the loss of many of your best men.^ 

Then a downright pleasant camping, as it seemed to you, for you 
had given up all expectation of anything easy in your soldier life, 
with wholesome brigade drill under your new commander, the noble 
Smythe. But there was work preparing for you. The enemy was 
moving to get into Maryland and Pennsylvania. You were under 
arms early each morning, and for many days under orders to be ready 
to move at shortest notice; so, when the order came, at 9 p. m. on 
Sunday, June 14th, to strike tents, you were soon on your way north- 
ward. Your corps was the rear of the army, and it was no slight 
thing at that hot season to march and watch the enemy too. But the 

^ The reported number of losses is 122; a much larger proportion of 
those engaged than at Antietam less than three months before. 

" The attention our new Army Commander, General Hooker, gave 
to improving the quality and increasing the variety of the rations, and 
the granting of furloughs home to men in the ranks, did much to cheer 
the spirits of our men and improve the morale of the army. 

' Losses reported at 66; — a large proportion for the number of men 
engaged. 



MOVING NORTHWARD. tl 

march had its compensations in the change, the clean, new fields for 
camping, and sometimes the brooks for bathing when the dusty day's 
march was done. By Stafford Court House, Acquia Creek, Dum- 
fries, Wolf-Run Shoals and Fairfax Junction to famous Centreville, 
with its earth-works. Then across Bull Run, over the former battle- 
ground, whose ghastly reminders of the dreadful struggle there were 
still visible in so many places, to Gainesville, where in holding the 
place for strategic purposes you had needed rest from the 20th to the 
25th of June. Away from Gainesville at 7 a. m. on the 25th, you 
passed Sudley Church and ^Mountain View, noted in last year's bat- 
tles, which sent their sounds to your inexperienced ears as you first 
stepped on Virginia's soil. You shuddered as you passed under those 
splendid oaks at Groveton and saw lying at their feet the scattered 
skulls and other bones of men — men who had been brought there by 
their comrades, or had crawled there, to die; or passed those shallow 
graves whose sod had parted midway adown their length, revealing 
fojms in blue, with their country's initials " U. S. " on their belts 
facing the sky and speaking for their faithful, heroic loyalty. Sadly 
suggestive were these of your own possible fate at any hour, but, 
hardened as you had become as veterans, though not hardened in 
heart, thank God ! you knew no hesitancy nor complaining. The 
next evening you crossed the Potomac, near Edward's Ferry, into 
^Maryland, and the next bivouacked at the base of Sugar Loaf Moun- 
tain, so marked an object in your view the year before. The following 
day, June 28th, you struck at Urbana the road you marched over less 
than ten months previous, thus completing a circle which in the 
treading had been fraught with such eventful experience to you, and 
encamped near Frederick. Here allow me to introduce an extract 
from a letter written at this date to a friend, to indicate the emotions 
felt at that time in language then prompted: "When we struck the 
main road at Urbana this noon, we completed a circle begun last 
September (13th). As we came through the place to-day, our band 
playing and colors flying, men marching in column by division, I 
could but contrast the two hundred or so men and the torn, worn, 
soiled colors and their shattered staffs, with the large, new regiment 
that a little more than nine months ago trod that same road with buoy- 
ant step and with bright, whole, unsoiled flags flying. In the circle 
trodden we have dropped many of our bravest and best men; have 
fought in three of the greatest and severest battles of the war; have 
passed through many dark, dismal, painful experiences, and have 
done our country what service she has asked of us. We are smaller, 



a NEARING GETTYSBURG. 

we are weaker, we are wiser, and may be sadder, but I hope we are 
as brave and as anxious to wipe out the Rebellion." 

At Frederick you received intelligence of the replacement of 
Hooker' by jMeade as Commander of the Army, and were bidden 
obtain rations and make preparations for a /o/i£- march. On iVIonday, 
the 29th, you broke camp at 8 o'clock, crossed the INIonocacy by the 
covered bridge where you crossed it the September previous, moved 
past Frederick, struck the Baltimore pike, crossed the Monocacy again 
by wading, and went forward on a days march, the longest you had 
yet known. ^ 

By fording the river, your feet had been rendered unfit for march- 
ing;* the road was hilly and rough and the day was very warm. 
Falling out by ones, twos and threes became the order, and when we 
pulled up at Union Town, late at night, there were but about thirty 
of the footmen of the regiment at hand. Such was your pluck, 
however, that nearly all the stragglers were up and in place the next 
morning. Here you had blessed rest for a day, and received addi- 
tional refreshing of spirit from being among friends of the Union, 
and in a land of greenness, thrift and plenty. 

At about 7 A. M. of July 1st you left Union Town, and moving 
northward halted near Taneytown. Here we were made aware, by 
the sounds of firing and by reports of men, that a battle was waging 
between our advance forces and the enemy. At 3 p. m. you moved 
forward again, and passing through Taneytown, marched towards 
Gettysburg. As you advanced your steps were quickened by the 
sounds of battle coming to you on the throbbing air; and groups of 
stragglers, skulks and shirks, relating, as usual, marvelous stories of 
disaster, met you. You gave them, as was their due, derision and 
jeers for their stories, but the sight of wounded men and prisoners 



' The news of the change of commanders, though a surprise, did not 
disconcert the men of the Union Army. The next great battle was to 
be won by the sturdy, unconquerable courage of our men, and by the 
harmonious cooperation, for once, of officers of all grades, all having 
but one object — the defeating and driving from our Northern soil the 
invading rebel hordes. The Union troops at Gettysburg were simply 
invi)icible ! 

^ Maj. Gen. Hancock, commanding 2d A. C, issued a " circular," in 
which he thanked his troops "for their great exertions" on that day 
(June 29th) " in achieving a march of full thirty miles." Gen. Hancock 
afterward stated the distance as thirty-three miles. 

^ The men were not allowed to halt to remove their shoes, either be- 
fore or after wading the river. The sand and gravel entered their 
shoes and their feet were softened by the water. Friends can imagine 
the condition they were in for tramping soon after leaving the stream. 



MAJOR ELLIS' REPORT. 1 3 

and smoke-begrimed cannon passing to the rear told you that real 
work had been done. You knew that work was before the old 
Second Corps, and not without some longing to meet the pretentious, 
arrogant invader on Northern soil, you pressed on and by nightfall 
were close to Gettysburg. 

And now, comrades, we for a time drop our own words to use 
those of another — the words of one who so cool, so intrepid and so 
capable, handled you so splendidly while on the field here. Had 
Commander Ellis lived ^ until this day, no other but him would 
we have accepted as our speaker on this occasion. We, in loving 
loyalty to the memory of Maj. Ellis, introduce his Report of the 
Battle of Gettysburg, that he, though dead, may speak to us. 

Headqrs. 14TH Conn. Vols., ) 

Camp near Gettysburg, Penn., |- 

July 6, 1863.) 
Brig. Gen. Morse, 

Adjutant General, State of Connectictit. 

Sir: I have the honor to report the following as the part taken 
by the 14th Regt. Conn. Vols, in the late battle at this place. We 
arrived on the ground on the morning of the 2d inst. , after being out 
all night on picket some two miles back, and joined our brigade. 
During the forenoon we supported Woodruff's Battery Regular 
Artillery. We were afterwards for a short time detailed on provost 
duty, and in the afternoon moved farther to the left to support 
Arnold's ist R. I. Battery, where we remained, with a slight change 
of position, throwing out pickets to the front. During the day the 
regiment was at times under a heavy shell fire, but met with no loss 
except Capt. Coit, who was seriously injured. On the morning of 
the 3d we advanced two companies as skirmishers, under command 
of Capts. Townsend and Lucas, who maintained their ground nobly 
until the grand attack of the afternoon, when they were driven in by 
the advancing lines of the enemy. During the forenoon the regiment 
was ordered to take and hold two buildings, a large barn and house. 



1 Brevet Brig. Gen. T. G. Ellis died at Hartford, Conn., Jan. 8, 1883. 
At the organization of the regiment he was appointed Adjutant. Upon 
the resignation of Maj. Clark, he was promoted to his place, and was 
Colonel of the regiment at the time of final muster out. Gen. Ellis 
was Chairman of our Monument Committee, and because of his fitness 
for the position, his hearty interest in the project, and his well-known 
pride in his old regiment, we hoped for great assistance from him. His 
sudden decease, however, deprived us entirely of his leadership and 
aid. 



14 MAJOR ELLIS' REPORT, 

outside of our line of skirmishers, a little to the right of our position, 
from which the enemy were seriously annoying our troops. The 
barn was gallantly charged and taken by four companies under com- 
mand of Capt. IMoore, the remainder of the regiment making the 
attack upon the house, commanded by myself The whole distance 
from our lines to these buildings being commanded by the enemy's 
sharp-shooters, we met with some loss in the attack. It was here 
that Lieuts. Seymour and Seward were wounded. While the regi- 
ment was within these buildings and firing from them upon the 
enemy, a case shot entered the upper part of the barn and exploded, 
killing and wounding some of our men. 

Having received orders to destroy these buildings, they were fired 
in several places, after removing all our killed and wounded, when 
we retired to the picket reserve, bringing off all our wounded and 
arms. We were again ordered to support Arnold's Battery, and 
formed on its right, where we remained under the terrific shell fire of 
Friday afternoon, from i o'clock p. m. until the battery retired dis- 
abled, when I moved the regiment forward and to the left to cover 
the space previously occupied by the battery. About this time two 
rebel lines of battle, extending across the plain for more than a mile, 
preceded by a line of skirmishers and reinforced at two points on the 
right and left by a third line, were observed to emerge from the 
woods about one-third^ of a mile distant, running nearly parallel to 
our front, and advanced steadily across the intervening plain. The 
spectacle was magnificent. They advanced in perfect order, the line 
of skirmishers firing. Our men were formed in a single line of battle 
along an almost continuous line of low stone wall and fence, which 
afforded a considerable protection from the enemy's fire. When the 
first line of the enemy had advanced to within about two hundred 
yards, our fire opened almost simultaneously along the whole line. 
The enemy's first line was broken and hurled back upon the second, 
throwing it also into confusion. Detached portions of the line 
rallied and for a short time maintained their ground. Being mown 
down by our terribly destructive fire, they commenced falling back, 
when a portion of this regiment charged upon them, capturing five 
battle flags and over forty prisoners. There afterward came into the 
lines of this regiment about one hundred or more of the enemy, 
some of whom were wounded, and gave themselves up. 



* The distance was nearly four-fifths of a mile. 



GETTYSBURG— GOING TO POSITION. 1 5 

The colors captured belonged to the following regiments: — 14th 
Tenn., ist Tenn., 4th Va., i6th N. Carolina, and 52d N. Carolina. 

The colors of the ist and 14th Tenn. bear the following inscrip- 
tions on each: " Seven Pines;" " Mechanicsville;" "Cold Harbor;" 
"Shepardstown;"' "Fredericksburg;" "Chancellorsville;" "OxHill;" 
" Harper's Ferry;" " Sharpsburg;" "Frazier's Farm;" "Cedar Run;" 
" INIanassas."^ The color of the 14th Tenn, was the first taken, and 
was captured by Sergt. Maj. Wm. B. Hincks; that of the 5 2d N. C. 
by Corp. Christopher Flynn, Co. K., and that of the i6th N. C. by 
Private E. W. Bacon, Co. F. 



Killed — Enlisted men, ...... 10 

,. Wounded — Commissioned Officers, - - - - 10 

" Enlisted men, --.-.- 42 

Missing — Enlisted men, 4 

Total, 66 

This regiment went into action with about 160 muskets. 

I am, General, 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Theodore G. Ellis, 
Major Commanding J4th C. F. 

Let us now bring forth some things not appearing in that report. 
That night, on picket near the Baltimore pike, your minds conjuring 
up the possibilities of the days before you, was not an unpleasant but 
rather restful one. You recall that sultry morning of the 2d when 
you were brought to yonder open field beside the Taneytown road 
and halted for a while. Soon afterward, about 9 o'clock, you crossed 
the road, advanced a little up the hollow below us, and, moving to 
the right, took your assigned position on yonder grassy slope; by no 
means then forecasting that this ridge on which you were for the first 
time resting was to become, and in part through yourselves, one of 
the most renowned places history names, or probably shall ever name. 
We remember the interest we took, when strolling to the summit of 
the ridge, in watching our sharp-shooters at their work, and the fas- 
cination there seemed in it in spite of its cruel character. We 



1 From these inscriptions it can be seen what veterans the 14th had 
confrontino: them. But the "Greek" had " Greek" to meet him. 



l6 JULY 2, '63— BY THE WALL. 

remember, too, how the bravery of our new Division Commander 
impressed us, as we saw him riding along posting the line of skir- 
mishers, and giving them instructions in a voice distinctly audible to 
all of us. This novel sight of a Division Commander in such a 
position, and so coolly and indifferently exposing himself to the fire 
of the enemy's marksmen, inspired a wonderful courage into your 
hearts. From this place, to which you were moved later in the day, 
you witnessed the advance of the 3d Corps to their new position, and 
their attack by Longstreet's brigades. You saw the fearful strug- 
gle along the Emmettsburg road, in the " Wheat Field," and the 
"Peach Orchard," — those seething whirlpools of carnage. You 
heard the volleys during the mad struggle at Round Top and Devil's 
Den, when sagacious Warren's opportunely directed forces at Vin- 
cent's Spur saved the left. And you were yourselves the recipients of 
the rebel cannoniers' compliments during these conflicts. You saw 
portions of your own Corps sent out to reinforce the 3d, and you 
marked the sad return of the 125th and 126th N. Y. , of your own 
Division. They went forth large, fine regiments; they came back 
remnants, their best officers slain, their ranks well-nigh wrecked. 
From here you heard, at evening, the charge of the "Louisiana 
Tigers " and the Texans and North Carolinians of Hayes' and Hoke's 
brigades upon the batteries on Cemetery Hill, with their wild yells 
and volleys; and you heard our own Carroll when he formed the lines 
of his splendid brigade, and, with that incomparable voice of his, 
ordered the charge, as they swept up and over the ridge and drove 
the rebels back, hurling them down the hill, a baffled, defeated, 
depleted force. That night, though it was quiet enough to those 
who remained by this wall, you of Companies A. and F. who were 
well to the front on the picket line, found the position by no means 
a pleasant one, because of the proximity of the rebel pickets and 
their pertinacity, and you " felt relieved " when Companies B. and 
D. came to relieve you. Daylight comes early to skirmishers in a 
field like that in the summer time, and the two latter companies had 
their hands full when ordered to push back the opposing line across 
the large field in their front. You were not " in good standing " 
some of the time, for to rise to full height was to attract the aim of 
all the rebel marksmen within range, so to creep and crawl was the 
compulsory fashion. One pathetic incident of the morning was the 
finding of Corporal Huxham by a comrade when a relieving squad 
came up. He was resting against the fence, apparently taking aim, 
but really dead; shot through the head, with his face toward the foe 



EARLY MORNING — THE BARN. 17 

and his hand upon his weapon. Alone, far from all loved ones, ful- 
filling his oath of loyalty, the brave, faithful spirit passed from his 
body by the swift leaden messenger sped by a traitor's hand. Another 
incident of the early morning must not be omitted. A wide-awake 
rebel gunner, desirous of disturbing the slumbers of some of us trying 
to get some rest on this ridge, sent a shell which struck and exploded 
a caisson of Arnold's Battery, close to our left. The rebels cheered 
and yelled all along their line for a mile or more. The spunky 
Arnold, by whom as an Artilleryman the 14th were ever after 
ready to swear, soon had the wreck cleared away, and sent an answer- 
ing shot. That first shot exploded a rebel caisson, and then it was the 
turn of our men to cheer; and cheer they did for several minutes, 
from Round Top to Cemetery Hill. 

About the most thrilling and brilliant episode in all your expe- 
rience, and one to which you will ever refer with great and just pride, 
was the capture and destruction of the Bliss buildings, about ten 
o'clock that morning. There has been with some, we find, a ques- 
tion as to ivho, on the 3d of July, performed these deeds; but every 
man of the 14th who was here on that day is ready to take oath that 
upon our regiment was imposed the task and to our men belongs the 
honor; and we put your claim upon the monument we unveil here 
this day without fear of disproof.^ That large barn, with its brick 
lower story, had afforded fine shelter for numerous sharp-shooters, 
who busied themselves with picking off our battery men, officers and 
skirmishers. The 12th N. J. of our brigade had been sent on the 2d 
to clear them out, and had performed the duty in gallant style, losing 
many men. Upon their withdrawal, however, the enemy had imme- 
diately re-occupied. The io8th N. Y., assisted by the ist Del., both 



1 Following the delivery of this Address, Col. Bachelder, historian of 
the Gettysburg battle and supt. of legends for memorials, and Mr. D. 
A. Buehler, V. P. of the Bat. F'd Mem. Association, stated publicly that 
the claim of the )4th Conn, to having destroyed the Bliss buildings was 
fully substantiated, and would now go into history as settled beyond a 
question. 

That rebel artillerymen should have supposed, and so stated, that 
their shells produced the conflagration, is not suprising. Our surprise 
is that, after such a clear statement as is made by Maj. Ellis in his 
Report, written three days after the affair, and the affidavits furnished 
by our field and line officers a few years after the war, and, withal, the 
statement of Gen. Hays, in his Report, that he ordered the buildings 
burned, the claim of the regiment should for a moment have been called 
in question by any on our side. Men were present at our dedicatory 
services having then upon their persons articles which they hastily 
snatched up as mementoes just as they fired the house and fled. 



1 8 A BRILLIANT CHARGE — A BOLD RIDER. 

also of our brigade, again drove them out, but when these regiments 
withdrew the rebels again re-occupied. During the forenoon of the 
3d it became evident that the enemy must' not longer be allowed to 
use those buildings, and the duty was devolved on the little 14th, 
minus its two companies on the skirmish line, to retake and "hold" 
the barn and house. You of those four left companies who, 
under command of Capt. INIoore, were detailed for the work, and you 
of the four right companies who, under I\laj. Ellis, went to their 
assistance, remember with what beating hearts you moved up to the 
right of your position a little distance (about where Div. Headqrs. 
were), and then started on your peril-fraught undertaking. As soon 
as you appeared within range you were "sighted" by all the sharp- 
shooters in the buildings and the skirmishers in front of you, and as 
you could not under such circumstances properly charge in any sort 
of formation, you were wisely directed to " scatter and run "' for the 
barn; but many dropped before getting there. When the left wing 
were in the barn, the sharp-shooters who had retired to the house 
kept up their fire, and when the right wing drove them out of that 
place, they retired only to the orchard in the rear, and still continued 
their harrassing fire. The enemy's skirmishers within range, increased 
until they outnumbered you nearly three to one, were closing in upon 
you; the sharp-shooters had a bead on every head, hand, or foot that 
appeared outside of the buildings; and the rebel artillery was drop- 
ping shells among you through the roof of the barn, and it seemed 
to you that you must be annihilated or captured unless another regi- 
ment came to your relief But you had been ordered to "hold" 
the buildings, and hold them you must as long as any of you were 
left there alive. Looking toward this ridge, you saw a single horse- 
man leaving Headquarters. Getting a little down the slope, he put 
spurs to his horse and bore down towards you. Erect in his saddle, 
with his fine horse making mighty leaps, the target of more than four 
score rifles and muskets, the gallant Capt. Postles of the ist Del., 
then Staff Officer, came straight to you and delivered an order to set 
fire to the buildings and retire to your former position; then he 
turned and rode back in the same dashing, fearless manner, and 
running the same gauntlet as when he came. He reached the crest 
unharmed, and when there turned and, still seated in his saddle. 



' This timely order was shouted to the men by Gen. Hays soon after 
they started from the ridge. The company-formation furnished the 
finest kind of a target for the sharp-shooters, but the " scatter "-forma- 
tion disconcerted their aim. 



IN FLAMES— A TOUCHING INCIDENT. I9 

lifted his hat and waved it in triumph. It is said that the rebels, 
thrilled by admiration of his daring act, cheered him upon the in- 
spiration of the moment. When our friends notice that the distance 
over which you charged and he rode with the order is about two-fifths 
of a mile, they will be prepared to appreciate both your exploit and 
his. You with willing hands soon applied the torch (many blazing 
wisps of hay) in various places and left the buildings to the flames. 
Like brave men that you were, you bore all your dead and wounded 
with you, and though many dropped by the enemy's bullets on the 
return, you took them all up and brought them to your own lines. 
All honor to the men of a depleted regiment who, performing so 
perilous an exploit, were so manly and humane withal that they 
would not leave one of their dead or injured comrades in the hands of 
the enemy ! Who will say that soldiers have no hearts and that war 
brutalizes them.? Who say so know nothing of that whereof they 
speak. Listen while we refer to one touching incident, a sequence 
of that charge, which none of you witnessed and of which but few of 
you have heard. Bright little "Jeflf"^ of Co. F. was fatally shot 
on the charge. He was dashing ahead well to the front, and one of 
his comrades heard him shouting to some who seemed to be laggard, 
"Come on, you cowards !" when he was struck near the shoulder by 
a musket shot, the ball passing down into his chest. He was borne 
to this ridge, a little to the rear of this position, where some of us 
were attending to such as could not be borne farther without receiving 
care. As soon as he saw us, three or four rods away, he called in a 
loud voice, "O, Chaplain, come here ! " We hastened to him, and, 
dropping upon one knee at his side, took his hand. His frenzied 
grasp and the contortions of his countenance told the agonies of pain 
he felt. Dr. Dudley came at once and probed the wound, but 
quickly withdrew in a manner unperceived by Jeff, giving a significant 
glance which said, "Fatal — I leave him with you!" Wishing to 
draw him out, we, still holding his hand and stroking his forehead, 
said, "What shall we think of you, Jeff.''" With a startled expres- 
sion he looked up, when, seeming to comprehend the significance of 

the words and tone, he spoke: "Tell my mother — tell — my " 

and was gone. Brave young Jeff ! A few minutes ago plunging 
into the thickest of the fray where duty bade, a genuine hero, and 
now, with death's hand on him, his heart full of tenderness, "with 



1 Thomas J. Brainard, the life of his Company, so full of mirth and 
drollery was he. 



20 THAT CHICKEN — THE ARTILLERY TORNADO. 

malice toward none," he turns his thoughts toward that one whose 
heart is yearning most for him, and with that dearest, sacredest name 
borne by mortals upon his lips, pmsses away. From witnessing many 
similar scenes, do any wonder that love for the soldier is strong within 
our heart.'' 

And now a lull of an hour or two, during which you, with July's 
broiling sun pouring its rays upon you, are trying to get some rest or 
food; or are penciling notes home, and wondering, soldier-like, what 
will be the next phase of this developing struggle. Let us repeat an 
an incident a comrade relates — how a group were gathered around a 
fire, just in the rear of your position, trying to reduce to tenderness 
an ancient fowl they had imprisoned (after honest capture!) in a 
kettle over the flames. While their hard-pushed stomachs were 
yearning with inexpressible longings for the poultry to relent and 
become eatable, they heard a gun,^ the friendly English Whitworth, 
far at the enemy's left, and soon its bolt came plunging in among 
you. Other bolts from other guns followed quickly. Our batteries 
promptly replied, and soon was in progress that oft described artillery 
engagement, the preparatory step to the grand infantry charge in your 
front later. Who can fitly describe that awful pounding of those two 
hundred rapid, fierce-firing cannon? The solid earth trembled with 
the concussion, and the air seemed filled with hurtling, whizzing 
shot and bursting shell. The storm seemed sufficient to blast every- 
thing that had life on these opposing hillsides. You betook your- 
selves immediately to the shelter of your wall. What could you do, 
you infani)ymen, but crouch and bow down behind its friendly, par- 
tial protection .? The enemy was at long range, and you could not 
strike hack; you could only endure and wait, and like brave men keep 
your places and take mangling or death, if such were to be your fate, 
during this merciless hammering. 

Let another, one of your line officers", describe it to you: ' 'The 
shriek of shot and bursting shell were trying to the nerves and 
courage, while the rapid firing of the artillery, producing one con- 
tinuous roar, was deafening. The air was rilled with smoke so dense 
that objects could not be seen at a distance of four rods. Some 
shells drove through the wall, causing wounds and death. The 



^ Two guns were to be fired as a signal when all was ready. When 
these sounded, after the Whitworth, the rebel batteries in rapid succes- 
sion followed, and soon the mighty chorus was all on. The cannonading 
began about one o'clock and continued nearly two hours. 

i* Capt. J. C. Broatch, Co. A. 



A TRYING POSITION— THE INFANTRY CHARGE. 21 

slope ^ of the ground in front turned the shell that struck there so 
that they passed harmlessly over our heads. The strain upon the 
nerves, as we lay hugging the ground while fragments of shell were 
dropping around us, was great, and after a while a reaction took 
place and we dozed, only to be awakened by the bursting of a shell 
near us or the crashing of our stone wall." 

But what of the poor fellows of Companies B. and D. , down on 
the skirmish line hdtvcen the two fires, and away from their friends all 
this time.' Let one of their number" tell you: " It was a terrible 
situation to be in, midway between the two armies. How we did 
hug the ground, expecting every moment to be our last ! No 'matter 
who was hit, you dare not move hand or foot; to do so was almost 
sure death." Here John Julian of Co. D. was wounded unto death 
by an exploding shell that fell short. 

But the cannonading ends. The sulphurous cloud lifts and reveals 
to you what you have been expecting to see — that long, strong line^ 
of rebel infantry advancing to the attack. You have all called it 
magnificent. You all admired the immensity, the showiness, the steadi- 
ness, the momentum of it. But fascinating as the view of it was to you 
as soldiers who could admire and appreciate grand and precise military 
display, to watch in admiration only was not your legitimate business 
just at that moment. That line meant business, serious business for 
you. It was the true bolt of the preceding cannon thunder — light- 
ning, mischievous, terrible, fatal as to its purpose and effort concern- 
ing you; and you, by your daring and courage, must ward it off and 
quench it, or woe to you and to the Union 1 While our artillery are 
playing into it, gashing the ranks in ghastly fashion, you are pre- 
paring to play your part — the most impoiiant part — in arresting it. 
The battery ordered up to replace Arnold's used-up battery* at your 
left has, by some misunderstanding of instructions, failed to come to 
its place and help you, so you must needs fill its place and extend 
your line along the front it should protect. Deliberately you take 



1 A slightly inclined, narrow ledge of ironstone ran along the whole 
front of the position of the 14th, a few feet from the wall. While this 
ledge served the regiment a " friendly turn," we fear the ricochetted 
shells had their revenge on the artillerymen in the rear. 

2 Sergt. Benj. Hirst, Co. D. 

' Some estimate the number at from twenty to thirty thousand, but it 
is probably nearer the truth to say seventeen or^eighteen thousand. 

* Only one gun of this battery remained not disabled. This demon- 
strates where the weight of the rebel fire was directed — the centre of 
the Union line. 



22 READY AND WAITING FOR THEM — "FIRE!" 

your places and make your preparations. Your rifles (how many of 
you blessed the fates that you had the " Sharpes " that day !) you 
rest, ready charged and cocked, upon the wall, beside which you 
kneel after partially rebuilding it. The contents of your cartridge 
boxes you cooly empty upon the ground beside you, ready for instan- 
taneous handling. Grimly and eagerly you watch the oncoming foe, 
— that immense wave of human vitality, purpose, and power. Brave 
Aleck Hays, your Division Commander, rides along your line and 
cautions you not to be hasty, but to reserve your fire until the enemy 
shall reach the fence along the Emmettsburg road, "and then give 

them !" (Though rough of speech, he was just the man to fight 

under.) The attacking line approaches the skirmishers. These fall 
back, stubbornly resisting as they come, until the order sounds, 
"rally on the reserve !" when they hasten to take their places here; 
and all of the 14th, what war's havoc has spared, are " elbow to 
elbow," brothers in line, again, breathlessly awaiting their chance. 

General Gibbon, Acting Corps Commander, rides past, and you 
hear him say: "The fate of the whole army now rests with you. 
Don't fire until you get the word; then fire low and sure ! We must 
hold this line io the last man f That settles it. You are men oiiron 
now. Not one of you will leave this spot alive, except as a victor ! 
The ranks in grey are nearing the fence. So still is it becoming, as 
the artillery fire slackens where it endangers our own men, that you 
hear distinctly the voice of a rebel officer as he calls, " Steady there, 
men.? Guide centre !"^ They reach the fence, and quick the com- 
mand, "Fire!" "Fire!" "Fire!" rings along the line, and with 
emotion of inexpressible thrill you press the triggers and your rifles 
outblaze. That frontal, formidable line melts away as snowflakes 
that fall upon the sea. By the time the second line reaches the fence 
the Sharpes are all ready for them, and they go down." But the 
h^avy supporting columns close in upon them on either flank and 
remnants of the lines form anew, a still formidable force. They are 



1 We can understand the significance of the tactical orders heard as 
Picket's men were advancing upon us now that we know Lee's design 
to have been to keep his centre solid and strong, that it might strike 
near the centre of our corps with full weight and effectiveness. 

- In a statement made by Longstreet a few years ago, he says: " When 
that line of musketry by the wall rose and delivered their fire, a perfect 
sheet of flame, mortal man could not withstand such a fire as that." 
Lee brought the heaviest of his cannonading to bear upon our centre, 
and it is probable that he supposed all our infantry there had Ijcen 
destroyed or driven from the ridge, and that his assault could have but 
feeble resistance. Robert was mistaken. 



GLORIOUS FIGHTING. 23 

over the fence now, pushing this way and firing upon you as they 
come. Wild impulse assumes control of you, and you spring to 
your feet regardless of danger. Your officers shout to you enthusi- 
astically. Your remembrance of occasions when the rebels had you 
at disadvantage makes ecstatic this opportunity to get even, and 
more than even, with them. You shout: " Now we've got 'em !" 
"Sock it to the rebels!" "Fredericksburg on the other leg!" 
" Hurrah ! Never mind who is hit, give it to them !" " Lay 'em out, 
boys !" — and other things that we will not repeat here. And you, 
veterans, realizing the benefit of your previous hard training, can be 
excited and still load and fire automatically with the rapidity and pre- 
cision of crack marksmen. The force in your front would charge 
directly upon your position, but your tempest of lead staggers them. 
Their officers rally them and urge them on, and their courageous 
color-bearers rush ahead of them and plant their standards, wave their 
hats, and cry to the men, "come on !" They essay to do it with 
fierce yells and imprecations, but cannot stand your pelting — your 
pitiless volleys break them all up. At the left of yonder angle a des- 
perate struggle is enacting. The rebels in front of Webb's Brigade 
have broken over the wall, and pressing back the infantry, are among 
the guns. ^ One color-bearer has mounted a piece, and is triumph- 
antly waving his flag. Your commander observes it and shouts to 
you, "Left oblique, fire !" At once your rifles play into the crowd, 
and presently they fall back. Up at the right a similar contest is 
waging. The enemy are charging in mass upon the batteries" there. 
The order rings out: " Right oblique, fire !" and your rifles play in 
that direction with like results. So have you helped your fellows. 
Now comes the moment for a counter charge. The Captain of Co. 
A. springs over the wall; his men and others quickly follow. The 
men in front resist a little, but see the game is up. Retreat to their 
own distant line is impossible. They fling down their arms, and 
some drop upon the ground crying excitedly, " Don't fire ! don't 
fire ! we surrender !" Down in front, on a line with yonder angle, a 



1 Three cruns had been run down to the front wall in the angle, to hold 
back the r'^bels with grape and canister. The brave Cushing. Com- 
mander himself sorely wounded, holding together his great gaping 
wound with one hand, an'd crying. " I'll give them one more shot. 
Webb!" with the other hand discharged his piece, and lell dead beside it. 

"- Woodruffs Battery was run forward and turned to the left, where 
it swept the valley with canister. Playing upon the flank ot the enemy, 
it made great slaughter, and the rebels made desperate efforts to cap- 
ture it. 



24 victory!— A REGRETFUL REB. 

rebel battle-flag is still defiantly flying, defended only by the color- 
bearer. Capt. Broatch and Sergt. I\Iaj. Hincks, and perhaps others, 
start for it, bent on its capture. Some of the enemy still sheltered 
by that wall open fire and make it hot for the approaching ones, but 
the flag is reached and surrendered to the Sergeant ^fajor.^ Prison- 
ers" are gathered in like berries from the bush, and battle-flags enough 
to make a whole brigade happy. All the enemy not shot down or 
captured are in full flight, and the battery just arrived to replace 
Arnold's sends a few rounds after the fugitives.^ 

What a victory was that, my comrades ! What an hour of glory 
for you ! Your rifles were hot in your hands from the fifty or more 
rounds sped from them on their death-dealing mission; but your 
hearts were hotter with their exulting, overwhelming joy. Wounds, 
hunger, home-longings, prospective hardships and dangers were all 
lost sight of in that supreme hour of your victorious rejoicing. But 
what a small band you had become reduced to ! In numbers scarcely 
equaling one maximum Company of those ten maximum Companies 
that entered the field ten months previously. What wonder that a 
sturdy prisoner, as he stepped over your wall and saw your thin line, 
inquired, " Where are your men T' And when told they were here, 
said, "I mean those you had here who gave us such volleys as we 
advanced .?" When assured that all were here except the disabled, he 
said, with emphasis, " We could have gone through if we had another 
line of men !" Then, taking another look, he exclaimed, "My 
God ! we could have gone through as it was if we'd known how few 
you were !" He added, with a regretful tone and an oath, as he 



* This act of Comrade Hincks was a notably brave one, for which he 
received the immediate congratulations of his associates in arms, and 
subsequently a Medal of Honor from the Government. 

2 Final count made more than two hundred prisoners and five battle- 
flags. Hancock says: " Our troops took about thirty or forty colors." 
These to a corps. Five to a little regiment reduced to about loo men 
is a good proportion. 

' Gen. Hancock, in his testimony, says: " The shock of the attack fell 
upon the 2d and 3d Divisions of the 2d Corps, assisted by a small 
Brigade of Vermont troops, together with the artillery of our line; these 
were the troops that really met the assault. No doubt there were other 
troops that fired a little, but these were the troops that really withstood 
the shock of the assault and repulsed it. The attack of the enemy was 
met by about six Brigades of our troops, and was finally repulsed after 
a terrific contest at very close quarters, in which our troops took about 
thirty or forty colors and some four or five thousand prisoners, witli 
great loss to the enemy in killed and wounded. The repulse was a most 
signal one, and decided the battle." Good enough for our Division I 



LEAVING, AND RETURNING 2$ 

went off over the hill, " I'd like to try that over again !" Well, the 
14th would have been willing. What a happy night you spent here, 
albeit the cries of the wounded in their agonies, 'way in your 
front, smote your hearts with pain! And what a glorious "Inde- 
pendence Day ' dawned upon you here the next morning ! 'Tis true 
you apprehended another attack, and you built anew your shattered 
wall, rather desirous that it should come. But your foe was too 
wise; he had received too bitter a lesson to be willing to renew his 
former attempt. You tarried here until the 5th, ^ during which day 
some of you were among the details to bury the dead, — those vast 
hecatombs slain at the altar of j\Iars in the interest of a wicked and 
cruel rebellion ! — and then you left Gettysburg to return to it no 
more until now. 

But Gettysburg has lived in your memories and conversation all 
the intervening years, and now you come to see" it once more and 
bid it a final good-bye. You once more look on the fields and posi- 
tions that have been pictured in your memories, upon this wall that 
has almost a j(?c/'tY/ significance to you, and the old ih rill come?, back 
to you; and you will carry away that thrill with you and keep it — 
aye, forever ! 

You place here where you stood, by battle's tide begirt, on Gettys- 
burg's immortal day, your historic and symbolic ^lonument, — pur- 
chased largely^ by the contributions of you who are poor, and poor 
because you gave your best days and best strength to save your nation 
from disruption. Your stone is not mortuary, but historic; not 
reared in honor of only those who fell here or fought heri', but to 
commemorate the regiment and its history as a ivhole. Its granite 
substance felt the shock of the battle which you helped make a vic- 
tory for the Union, and its base will hold for you through ages the 
position you held. Its upper base will give to passers by your Regi- 
mental designation, of which you can ntvcr be ashamed, and the 
commands you were connected with. One of its tablets will tell, 



1 The 2d Corps moved in the afternoon of the 5th July, and at evening, 
as our Diary shows, " bivouacked near Two Taverns, on the Baltimore 
pike." 

= Our men had not "seen " Gettysburg itself, except from the skirmish 
line, nor ever entered it, until the visit in 1884. The town was more 
than one-half mile from our position on the ridge, and was hidden from 
our view there. 

8 About one-fourth of the money raised for the Monument was con- 
tributed by interested friends of the Fourteenth in Middletown, New 
Britain, and Rockville. 



26 THE MONUMENT WILL HOLD THE POSITION. 

in epitome, your history, with your numbers, your losses, and the 
great battles you fought in set forth: and the other will tell what you 
did here on this world-renowned field. Its finial is the badge 
of the grand old Corps with whose work and fortunes you were con- 
nected during all your army service — the symbolic trefoil, which you 
so delight in still. Its polished sides will flash in the sight of passers 
on distant roads, and here on the line denominated the "High- 
water mark of the Rebellion"* will help indicate where the highest, 
mightiest surge of the slave-holders' Rebellion was shattered and 
overcome at the stern front of the zd Army Corps; while the legends 
on your shaft will show XhzX. yoii, my comrades, men of the 14th 
Conn., were a part of the living bulwark that broke it. 



.^DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT.^,. 

A Monument on the Gettysburg field should be durable. We 
wished that ours should be massive, simple, and expressive. Its 
durability is vouched for in its material; its massiveness appears in its 
dimensions and weight; its simplicity in its lines, most of which 
are right lines, and its surfaces, most of which are planes; its expres- 
siveness in its location, its every inscription, and its prominent sym- 
bolic finial. 

The IMonument is constructed of Gettysburg granite, quarried near 
the place of the Cavalry engagement at the right of the Union army. 
The stone is fine and dense of construction, and handsomely marked. 

The base is five feet eight inches square and fifteen inches high, 
the sides being rock (or "rustic") dressed. On the wash is cut: 
"Left Centre of Regiment.'' The upper base is four feet square by 
two and one-fourth feet high. On the east side is cut in large letters: 
" 14th Conn." — on the south side, "2d Brig." — on the north side, 
"3dDiv." — on the west side, " 2d A. C." The Die is three feet 
square by four feet high. On the east and west faces are tablets, each 
twenty-two by twenty-six inches, having regimental historic inscrip- 
tions (see page 29). The tablets are of White Bronze, manufac- 
tured in Bridgeport, Conn. Their blueish gray surfaces have a 
harmonious and pleasing eflfect in conjunction with the granite 



' Longstreet admitted the appropriateness of the expression — that 
after the Confederates' repulse at this place their fortunes, which until 
then seemed constantly rising, steadily declined. 



DESCRIPTION OF MONUMENT. 27 

surfaces into which they are sunk. The cap-stone is thirteen and 
one-half inches high, and is surmounted by the trefoil, cut from 
granite. This is four inches thick, fourteen inches wide, and seven- 
teen inches high, and has polished sides. The height of the whole 
is ten feet, plus one half inch. The builder was Mr. J. W. Flaharty 
of Gettysburg, a comrade whose heart is enlisted in such work, and 
who is a capable, careful, and conscientious workman. 



Many memorials erected on the field are simply, or chiefly, mor- 
tuary records. It seemed to us that our stone should be a historic 
record; as becoming the field, which is not a cemetery but a great 
battle-field park; and as becoming our regiment, which saw such an 
extensive service. This battle was but one of many great engagements 
in which the 14th participated and lost heavily. To put our full 
mortuary list on this one shaft would be impossible, while to put the 
casualty list of this one battle on a monument to the whole career of 
the regiment seemed not becoming. 

If there is a great deal on the tablets, it is because the 14th had a 
great deal to put on them. There is not one item that is not signifi- 
cant, one thing the regiment could wish omitted. 

The INIonument and the wall by which it stands are conspicuous 
objects from all the field front— from along the Emmettsburg road, 
the fields beyond, the Bliss premises, and the Confederates' position 
far away. From the latter position our wall (the Fourhetilh's oivn), 
seen rising in bow-like form sharply defined against the sky, its only 
background, appears, with the Monument towering above it, the 
most prominent part of the Union position between Cemetery Hill 
and Round Top. Viewing it from the rebel position, we can under- 
stand why the Confederate Commander-in-Chief selected it as the 
point for the concentration of his heaviest artillery fire. 

. .cMM OF THE MONUMENT.'i^ 

The Monument stands on ground now owned by the Gettysburg 
Battle-Field ISIemorial Association. "This Association was formed 
for the purpose of holding and preserving the battle-grounds of 
Gettysburg, with the natural and artificial defences thereof, as they 
were at the time of the battle, and to perpetuate the same, with such 
memorial structures as might be erected thereon in commemoration 
of the heroic deeds and achievements of the actors thereon." The 



28 CARE OF THE MONUMENT. 

Association was incorporated by an Act of the General Assembly of 
Pennsylvania. It has " power to take and to hold, by gift, grant, 
devise, purchase or lease, such personal property and effects and all 
such portions of the battle-grounds as may be necessary, or conve- 
nient, to promote the object of its incorporation." The Association 
"holds the land in fee simple, and is charged with the care and pro- 
tection of memorials thereon." Severe penalties are enacted against 
any who shall "wilfully mutilate, deface, injure, or remove any 
monument, column, statue, memorial structure, or work of art that 
shall be erected or placed upon the battle-ground held, or which shall 
be held, by the said Association; or shall wilfully destroy or remove 
any fence, railing, enclosure or other work for the protection or orna- 
ment of said batde-ground or any portion thereof." These penalties 
are extended against such as shall in any way "wilfully injure trees 
or shrubbery," "remove or destroy breast-works, earth-works, zvalls, 
or other defences or shelter constructed by the armies or any portion 
of the forces engaged in the battle of Gettysburg." A standing 
advertisement offering a reward for the detection of any persons doing 
injury to memorials, etc., upon the field is kept in the local news- 
papers. The Association rigidly refuses to permit any of the defences 
to be at all altered — not a stone to be taken away from our wall. 
The officers of the Battle-Field Association and the people of Gettys- 
burg are intensely interested in the object of the Association, and 
thoroughly enlisted in carrying out the protective provisions of the 
legislative enactments. The 14th may therefore rest assured that 
their Monument and their wall will be carefully protected, though 
they themselves are so far away from them. 

The Battle-Field Association now holds, including Crawford's Glen 
now under its care, nearly three hundred acres of the old battle-field, 
embracing the most important positions occupied by the Union 
troops during the engagements of the 2d and 3d of July. An Avenue, 
nowhere less than sixty feet wide, "has been opened from Cemetery 
Hill along the line of battle as established July 2d and 3d, 1 863, as far 
as to Little Round Top, a distance of about two miles. " This Avenue 
is a favorite driving place, and all memorials erected along its course 
are brought immediately under the notice of those passing. Our wall 
forms the west boundary of this Avenue, along the position held by 
the 14th, so that our jMonument stands directly upon its margin, 
about twelve or fifteen feet from the road, — a conspicuous object 
attracting the attention of all passing tourists. 

The treasury of the Association is fed principally by appropriations 



INSCRIPTIONS. 



29 



of State Legislatures. Let us hope that Connecticut, a State that 
had so many gallant sons at the battle of Gettysburg, and whose 
regiments are placing costly memorials on the grounds of the Asso- 
ciation, will respond to an appeal which may yet be made, and furnish 
a liberal appropriation to further the patriotic and worthy objects of 
the Association. 



INSCRIPTION ON EAST FACE OF MONUMENT, FRONTING THE 
TANEYTOWN ROAD. 

The 14TH Conn. Vol. Inf. 

Left Connecticut August 25th, 1862. 

Was assigned to the Army of the Potomac Sept. 7th, 1862, 

And was mustered out May 31st, 1865. 

The Regiment was engaged in thirty-four great Battles and severe 

Skirmishes of the War, 

Including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, 

Wilderness, Spottsylvania. Petersburg, Cold Harbor, &c., 

To Appomattox. 

Loss in killed and died in the service, 366; in wounded and 

disabled, many hundreds, 

Original Muster, 1,015 — Recruits, 697. 

Final Muster of original members, total present and absent, 234. 

PRO PATRIA. 

This Monument erected by the Survivors, 
July 3, 1884. 



INSCRIPTION ON WEST FACE OF MONUMENT, FRONTING THE 

FIELD. 

The 14TH C. V, 

Reached the vicinity of Gettysburg at evening, July ist, 1863, 

And held this position July 2d, 3d and 4th. 

The Regiment took part in the 

Repulse of Longstreet's Grand Charge on the 3d, 

Capturing in their immediate front more than 200 Prisoners 

And five Battle Flags. 

They also, on the 3d, captured from the enemy's Sharp-Shooters the 

Bliss buildings in their far front, and held them 

Until ordered to burn them. 

Men in Action, 160. 

Killed and Wounded, 62. 

Total loss, 66. 



•30 JULY, 1884. 



Trip of ib m I V. to Gettysburg, 

JULY 1-3, 1884. 

BY 

Comrade J. W. Knowlton. 



At the reunion held in New London, September i6th, 1882, 
Chaplain Stevens offered a resolution that a committee be raised to 
solicit subscriptions, to receive and examine designs, for a suitable 
monument to be erected at Gettysburg, on some part of the position 
held by the Fourteenth Regiment during the battle of July 2d and 
3d, 1863, to commemorate the history of the regiment, and particu- 
larly its connection with the battle of Gettysburg. 

The resolution was adopted with enthusiasm. The committee was 
appointed, and entered upon its duty with such zeal that at the next 
reunion, held in New Haven, September 17th, 1883, it was voted 
that the report of the committee be adopted, the committee con- 
tinued, and that the monument be unveiled at three o'clock in the 
afternoon of July 3d, 1884, the anniversary of Longstreet's historic 
charge, and the Fourteenth's immortal firmness and victory. 

Under the authority thus conferred, sub-committees were appointed 
to contract for the monument, to arrange for transportation and for 
the care of the regiment while at Gettysburg, to prepare an order of 
exercises, and to collect the subscriptions which had been so freely 
made. By the first of jNIay it was clear to the committee that every 
obstacle had been surmounted, and that there would be nothing to 
prevent the fulfillment of the project in every detail; and the com- 
rades of the regiment were informed of the fact, whereupon applica- 
tion for tickets and allotment to quarters in Gettysburg began to 
come in. 



ON THE WING — AT GETTYSBURG AGAIN. 31 

On Monday, June 30th, the excursionists turned their faces toward 
New York City, and on Tuesday morning at seven o'clock the regi- 
mental colors were unfurled in the Pennsylvania Depot in Jersey 
City, and as comrade after comrade arrived he was heartily greeted 
and supplied with a badge, than which none more honorable ever 
hung upon the breast of man, an emblem of heroism. Without 
confusion, places were secured in three luxurious cars assigned for 
the use of the party, and at eight o'clock the train moved out and on 
over the State of New Jersey, passing cities, villages, and fertile farms 
without stop; along the west bank of the Delaware with unabated 
speed, until Broad Street Station in Philadelphia was reached and 
more comrades joined the throng. While the long train stood in this 
vast station no breath of air tempered the midday heat, and Chase's 
"double-canned" brought no relief 

The beauty of the country through which "the best railroad in the 
world " passes, is proverbial, and every feature was enjoyed to the 
fullest. An hour at Harrisburg for dinner, and the long bridge over 
the Susquehannah was crossed, and soon the Cumberland Valley 
opened up in all its richness, reminding every comrade that less than 
fifty miles away lay the Mecca of the pilgrimage — as peaceful and as 
quiet as these vales in the slanting rays of this July sun. And this 
reminder led to the other thought, of another July evening, when, 
footsore, hot, and dusty, the Fourteenth was nearing Gettysburg to 
interpose a bulwark of flesh and blood, which should hurl back the 
tide of devastation that was rolling high and threatening to engulf 
the Nation in dire disaster. The song, the jest, the laughter ceased. 
Thoughtful, calm, and wistfully expectant, all watched the mile-posts 
as they passed, and then, the fruition of the hope of years! The 
Fourteenth was again at Gettysburg! 

Warm words of welcome and hearty cheers were given by comrades 
of the Seventeenth Connecticut Vols, assembled at the station to 
receive their sister regiment. By a short march a square was reached, 
where many of the good people of the town were gathered to receive 
their alloted guests and to escort them to the several homes provided. 

That evening in more than two score homes in Gettysburg, the 
story of the Fourteenth's years of service was told, and prayerful 
thanks were extended by the heads of families to their guests of to- 
day, — their defenders then. But these quiet hearthstones were not 
alone in doing honor to the visitors. An enthusiastic meeting of the 
Grand Army Post was held, and the comrades of the visiting regi- 
ments were made to feel that they were among friends indeed. At 



32 OVER THE OLD FIELD— A MEMORABLE CAMP FIRE. 

the hotels and upon the streets, citizens and comrades of the different 
regiments mingled socially, and warmly grasped hands in memory of 
the past and in joy for the present. Thus the hours passed until well 
toward midnight, when the last load of comrades, bound for the 
Springs Hotel, sang as they bowled along, their cheery: 

" We'll roll, we'll roll the chariot along!" 

and quiet again reigned in Gettysburg. 



Wednesday, July 2d, the hot sun rose in a cloudless sky, and his 
earliest rays discovered many of the comrades out upon the line, 
viewing the field and bringing back the fading memories of twenty- 
one years ago. As early as eight o'clock, every team that could be 
pressed into service was engaged, and the work of exploration occu- 
pied the time of all until night, except for an hour or two near 
midday, when the comrades were at the unveiling of a splendid 
monument erected by the 124th Regt. N. Y. Vols. 

The crowning glory of this day was the camp fire of blazing logs, 
commencing at dusk, on the veritable ground upon which the regiment 
lay during the night of July 2d, 1863. By invitation from the 14th, it 
was participated in by members of the 17th C. V., 124th N. Y., and 
other veterans, ladies and citizens. There was an abundance of pipes 
and tobacco for the old smokers, and plenty of cold ice water to 
quench the parched tongues. 

"Lieut. Col. i\Ioore, President of the Association, presided. The 
time was spent listening to speeches, the stories of camp life, remi- 
niscences of hardships and struggles, pleasant memories mingled 
with sorrowful ones. Remarks were made by Chaplain Stevens, Maj. 
Coit, iNIaj. Tibbitts, Capt. Davis, of the 14th; by Col. Torrance, 
Col. Wooster, 20th Conn., Comrade Wm. Haines, 12th N. J., and 
Comrade Calhoun of 17th Conn. A number of neatly printed army 
songs, selected especially for this reunion, were distributed among 
the 'boys,' and the beautiful moonlight night was made vocal with 
the old army songs of 'America,' 'The Battle Cry of Freedom,' 
'Marching Through Georgia,' 'Tenting on the Old Camp 
Ground,' 'Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are INIarching.' ' The Veterans' 
Auld Lang Syne,' ' Comrades, Touch the Elbow,' ' Hurrah for old 
New England,' &c. The assembly broke up with three cheers for 
prominent officers, Gettysburg, &c. All voted it a good time, quite 
in contrast with the scenes transpiring twenty-one years before." 



THE UNVEILING. 23 

Thursday, July 3d, opened with the departure of the Seventeenth 
Regiment at six o'clock, at which early hour many of the Fourteenth 
boys were astir and out upon the field again, determined that no 
point of interest be left unexplored. 

The culmination of the labor of love was the unveiling of the 
]\Ionument, the following account of which was written by one of the 
citizens of Gettysburg: 

"The exercises of the 14th Connecticut were held on Thursday after- 
noon at three o'clock. The monument erected by this organization is 
located on the right of the Round Top Avenue, at the point where a 
portion of Pickett's charge culminated on the 3d of July, 1863. 

" The members of the organization and their friends formed at the 
Eagle Hotel at two o'clock P. M., and marshalled by Lieut. Col. Moore, 
marched to the position of the monument, where a large number of 
people had already assembled. The veterans were drawn up in line, 
facing the monument, when the exercises were opened with a very im- 
pressive prayer by Comrade J. E. Durand of the 14th. This was fol- 
lowed by the singing of 'America,' all present uniting. Maj. J. C. 
Broatch, Chairman of the Committee on the Monument, submitted a 
report that their work had been completed, and the total expenses of 
construction, erection. &c., amounted to $725, and that sufficient funds 
were on hand to pay all bills. Lieut. Col. S. A. Moore, President of the 
Association, then turned over the monument to the care and protection 
of the Gettysburg Battle-Field Memorial Association. The rays of the 
sun were beating down so fiercely, that a comrade made the happy 
suggestion, which met with a unanimous amen, that the further exer- 
cises be held in ' Ziegler's Woods,' whither the party proceeded. 

"Upon reaching the woods, the ' boys ' scattered themselves around 
in true soldier style, some on the ground, others on boulders, on camp- 
stools, in carriages, and, in short, anyway to be comfortable. Chaplain 
H. S. Stevens, the orator of the day, was then introduced by Lieut. Col. 
Moore. His oration was a graphic, entertaining and interesting history 
of the regiment, and was enjoyed not only by the veterans, who were 
vividly reminded of their trials and perils and losses during three years 
of war, but by the veterans of other regiments and non-combatants 
present. He stated his object to be to speak to the survivors of the 14th 
and review its record, of which they were not only proud but jealous. 
******** 

" It has long been a disputed question who burned the Bliss property, 
but the facts as stated by Chaplain Stevens should settle it. The proof 
adduced by him, corroborated by surviving members of the organiza- 
tion who were present at this meeting, and who participated in the 
scenes of that July morning, admits of no doubt that the 14th are enti- 
tled to this honor. The orator's description of Pickett's charge and the 



34 WHAT THEY SAY OF US. 

resistance made by our line was very thrilling. The 14th occupied a 
most dangerous and exposed position, but they resisted every effort of 
the serried ranks of Pickett's veteran reserves to penetrate their lines. 
Thrice did they attempt it, filling up their decimated first and second 
lines, and thrice were they repulsed. Then came the counter-charge, 
and, amidst the cheers of the victors, the hordes of treason were hurled 
back to Seminary ridge, the high-water mark of the Rebellion having 
then and there been reached. During this time the 14th Conn, captured 
five rebel battle-flags and over two hundred prisoners. The regiment 
entered the fight with 160 men, and lost during this engagement 62 men 
killed and wounded and 4 missing, — forty per cent of its fighting force. 

" But this was not the end of the war for them. They participated 
in all the great battles, until Lee laid down his sword at Appomattox. 
The regiment certainly has a glorious record and one that will be im- 
mortal. 

"The 'boys' sang 'Rally 'round the Flag,' and David A. Buehler, 
Esq., Vice-President of the Memorial Association, received the monu- 
ment on behalf of the Association, taking occasion to compliment the 
regiment on its brilliant record. 

"Col. Bachelder was introduced, but owing to severe throat trouble 
was unable to make any extended remarks. He sustained the claims of 
the 14th that they had burned the Bliss property. 

" Impromptu remarks, reminiscences of the war, were made by 
Comrade Wm. Haines, I2lh New Jersey, Col. Dwight Morris, and Com, 
Benjamin Hirst of the 14th. After singing several patriotic songs, the 
benediction was pronounced by Comrade Durand, and, after smoking 
the calumet of peace, they returned to town. All present were de- 
lighted with the exercises, and felt that it had been not only a pleasant 
but profitable afternoon." 

At the conclusion of the exercises, a member of the Battle-Field 
Memorial Association (himself an old soldier) remarked that he had 
attended at all of the ceremonies of a like character that had taken 
place, and that he had no hesitation in saying that " the Fourteenth's 
is the best, for // is all soldier. " 

Another spectator has said in print: 

" There was no brass band, no grand gala day display. It was a 
memorial day honored by the men who did the hardest work in that 
terrible conflict. They needed no blare of trumpets nor bursts of 
rhetoric to commemorate deeds indelibly printed in each mind and 
enrolled on the brightest page of the nation's history. It was the Four- 
teenth Connecticut Volunteers. Boast or pomp could find no place in 
their celebration. Connecticut can point with pride to every regiment 
she sent out, but none of them all saw the hardships, suffered the losses 
and achieved the victories that the Fourteenth did. And none are 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 35 

more willing to ascribe them their deserts than are their comparatively 
more fortunate comrades in arms in the other regiments ; such is 
soldier nature." 

And still another writer from Gettysburg: 

"All here agree with me that the Fourteenth may well feel proud of 
what they have done here, not only in 1863, but also in 1884. The 
soldierly bearing and gentlemanly demeanor of the men is freely com- 
mented upon throughout the town." 

Before leaving the grove, the "boys" had an old-time Fourteenth's 
love feast; the big pipe was smoked; photographs of the scene were 
taken, and the exhuberant joy that followed the glorious success of 
the afternoon of July 3d, 1863, was repeated,— for the Fourteenth 
was a second time victorious at Gettysburg! 



The departure from the historic town was regretfully made at nine 
o'clock in the evening, by special train, amid the cheers of citizens. 
Songs were sung and speeches made from the platform until the 
train was in motion, when the Fourteenth broke out all over! Every 
song that ever was sung by anybody, and some that no mortal ever 
heard before, rang through the cars for hours! The brilliant achieve- 
ment of 

" The Duke of Yorkshire with his one thousand men," 

was dilated upon until the mathematical beauty and symmetry of the 
song was fully understood. Changes in the text of 
"Comrades, touch the elbow!" 

were noted and feelingly remarked upon by one of the "boys," who 
would be gray-headed if he wasn't so bald,— and thus the tide ran 
high, overflowing every bank, and stopping at nothing until Harris- 
burg and the sleeping-cars were reached, when the hilarious storm 
abated, and ere long the sturdy snore of many a tired veteran 
attested to the fact that the old Fourteenth was as quiet as it ever 

can be. 

It would be foolhardy not to cease this record here, for another 
scratch of the pen might awaken 

" The Duke of Yorkshire with his one thousand men!" 



im OF ENgi&EMEMTSi^ 



OF THE 14th C. V. 



BATTLES. 

Antietam, - September 17, 1862, 

Fredericksburg, December 12, 13, 14, " 

Chancellorsville, May 2 and 3, 1863. 

Gettysburg, July 2, 3, 4, " 

Bristoe station, October 14, " 

IVIorton's Ford, February 6, 1864. 

Wilderness (Todd's Taveru), - - - - - - May 5, " 

Wilderness, ^iay 6, " 

Laurel Hill, May 10, " 

Spottsylvania, May 12, " 

North Anna River, May 24, " 

Tolopotomy, May 30, " 

Cold Harbor, June 3, " 

Cold Harbor, June 5, " 

Petersburg, June 17, " 

Ream's Station, August 25, " 

SKIRMISHES. 

Falling Waters, -^ July 14, 

Auburn, October 14, 

Blackburn's Ford, October 15, 

Mine Run, November 30, 

Spottsylvania, May 13, 

Spottsylvania, May 14, " 

Spottsylvania, May 18, " 

Milford Station, May 22, •• 

North Anna River, May 26, " 

Petersburg, . . . June 16, " 

Deep Bottom, August 15, " 

Deep Bottom, August 16, " 

Hatcher's Run (Boydton Plank Eoad), - - October 27, " 

Hatcher's Run, February 5, 1865. 

Hatcher's Run, March 29, •• 

High Bridge, | j March 30, " 

Farmville, r •< to 

Surrender of Lee's Army, ) ' April 10, " 



1863. 



1864. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

lliilllillllllilillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 



013 709 117 3^ 



